


Live For Me

by forendil



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Death, Deathfic, Hope, M/M, Written from Personal Experience, dying, terminal illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 20:42:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4406990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forendil/pseuds/forendil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary - The twig Groot grew back from had too much cell damage to maintain his life for long. Rocket is in denial and selfishly seeking life-saving treatments. Groot selflessly goes along with it while waiting for him to face reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Live For Me

"How the fuck can you say that?!" Rocket roared. His voice echoed off the Milano's walls and bounced into the ears of his target.

Groot sat hunched on a crate, both hands hanging limp in his lap. Always so awkward about his size. Always able to say so much in three syllables.

"I am Groot." He turned his hands over in a helpless gesture.

"Sorry ain't cutting it because you're not gonna die," snarled Rocket. Maybe saying it enough turned it true.

Sometimes regrown cuttings had too much cell damage. They lived a short time before dying for good. This couldn't happen. This was Groot. Then he started puking out chlorophyll and struggling to regenerate minor wounds. He couldn't run far without getting exhausted. He wasn't sprouting many leaves. The green moss dusting his bark had flecks of yellow.

Rocket chalked it up to not eating and drinking enough. He shoved food and water at Groot. He took him to fertile planets to take root in the most nutritious soil. He believed in his soul that Groot was going to beat the odds until he showed signs of not being well.

Then Groot collapsed today. Rocket thought he tripped. He'd passed out. Now here they were, quailing under the truth's burdensome weight.

"I am...Groot."

"No. Tell me why you came back if you're just going to go away again," Rocket said.

Groot's soulful brown eyes welled up.

Rocket turned away because he didn't want to see Groot cry. He left him sitting there while he stormed out to who-knew-where. Some hole in the wall bar with liquor tasting like piss. He didn't care; he drank until numbness filled in the cracks in his heart. The strippers were great - women with giant fake boobs shaking their colorful bodies.

Drunk, he staggered back to the Milano and shut himself in the lavatory. Takeoff nearly had him puking, but he held it in. He took a long leak in the toilet and peeled his clothes off to shower. His slender pink erection mocked him. Rocket soaped his hand up and wrapped it around himself. With his eyes shut, he pumped his shaft without thinking of anything in particular. Mostly because of his drunkenness.

Cold air wafted his fur. He saw blurry brown approach the frosted shower screen and move it aside. The last face he wanted to see right now. Damn it!

Groot had every reason to look at Rocket in anger. Instead, as always, his eyes remained soft. His throaty voice boomed into the shower stall.

"I am Groot?" He knelt carelessly under the spray, his face as close as it was before he sacrificed himself.

"Yeah, I want to know," growled Rocket. How stupid did he look to be jacking off as he responded?

Groot's arm creaked. He grasped Rocket's wrist, stilling his hand and moving it off his erection. His face edged closer, eyes holding Rocket's gaze. His damn soul lay bare all over his face.

"I am Groot?" Groot's breath had Rocket's erection tingling.

He cupped Rocket's back in his hands and lowered himself further. Rocket's breath caught at seeing Groot's mouth engulf his arousal. A warm, soft, slick tongue slipped into the tip. Then he started to suck lightly. His tongue flicked in and out.

Rocket's nerves were on fire. He whimpered, grasped Groot's wrists and came harder than he ever had in his life. Groot pulled his tongue out and kissed his erection as he ejaculated. He wiped the semen off his face and licked it off his hands.

"I am Groot?" he asked again, his voice so gentle.

"Y-yeah...I want to know why you came back," panted Rocket, "why come back if you're just gonna die again?"

Groot shut off the water. He looked down with that stupid sentimental look on his face. The one Rocket tried to get annoyed at yet never could. His lips parted.

" _W_ e are Groot."

Rocket's ears flicked back. Those words hurt his heart more than anything because he felt it too.

"You came back to love me? How is coming in here and sucking my dick love? Huh?! How is coming back here just to die loving me?!" He grabbed Groot's forearms and looked up at him, teeth bared.

A crease formed on Groot's wooden brow. "I am - " He clutched his abdomen and sank onto the floor, choking out the rest of his sentence, "Groot."

The aching space inside Rocket inflated. Of all the fucking damn things Groot came back for, and he did it to be loved back. Rocket looked away, because seeing him in pain was too much. The emotion he spent so much time running from was the one he couldn't hide from Groot. Groot read people like books.

But Rocket figured it never needed saying. He assumed he would always be there.

_Maybe I can keep him here_.

Groot assumed the fetal position in the middle of the shower stall. His brown bark was strangely bright against the dark gray tiles. Agony twisted his expression. He was crying from the pain.

Crying.

Rocket broke down. He fell onto his knees beside Groot's head and ran his hand lightly along the wood grain between his eyes. Tears joined the water beaded on his furry cheeks when Groot moaned hollowly.

"You've gotta stay, Groot. Stay with me. We'll fight this together."

"I am Groot," Groot whispered back.

He promised to stay.

.

Their days began to fill with visits to medics all around the galaxy. Peter expressed doubts. Drax paced around with a haunted look in his eyes. Gamora grew quiet and pensive. Rocket waited. Groot endured tests like a champion. Day after day.

And their nights...their  _nights_  were better than liquor. Rocket discovered Groot could achieve orgasms simply by breathing his pheromones. Unlike Rocket, he never restrained his response. His climaxes were raw, powerful and open. He gave everything he was.

Rocket fucked a few people throughout various parts of his life. He didn't fuck Groot, though. He made love to him. Then he ensured he woke up first every morning to look upon Groot's sleeping face and convinced himself he could keep him alive if he loved him enough.

.

One of the scientists they contacted had a treatment. Something to do with stem cells and UV light slowing down the rapid cellular apoptosis taking place within Groot's body. It came with the unfortunate side effects of fatigue and pain. But Groot soldiered on with that stupid, sweet grin and never complained.

Then the physical changes began. His body was comprised of interwoven vines, each individual strand like fibers in muscle. The thickest ones looked a little thinner than before. His overall profile seemed narrower. Rocket convinced himself he saw side effects of the treatments.

He talked to Groot about long-range plans every day. Groot's eyes always grew sad as he listened and nodded. He would encircle Rocket in his arms and nuzzle his cheek against his ear.

Groot started losing interest in the things he loved doing. He slept more and more. Rocket told himself he was saving energy to help him fight. Rest was the best thing for sickness, right?

.

"I'll be gone two weeks. A week to go and a week to get back. Got a new lead on your treatments. You sure you don't wanna come?" Rocket told Groot over breakfast. The rest of the crew - Peter, Gamora and Drax, sullenly ducked their heads.

"I am Groot," Groot smiled and shook his head. He was so tired all the time now.

"Rocket? Can we talk?" Peter spoke up. He beckoned at the flight deck stairs.

Rocket followed him out of everyone else's earshot. "Yeah, what? Make it fast, I ain't got all day."

Peter slapped his hand against the panel above Rocket. "You can't see it can you?"

"The hell?"

"Everybody else sees it. Groot's dying. I don't think he's gonna last another two weeks. Why the hell are you chasing treatments that aren't working instead of being here for him?"

"Groot's not gonna die. He promised to live for me," Rocket said back defensively.

"He's suffering for you," Peter stated, and took his hand off the panel. He didn't let Rocket respond. He went back downstairs with stiff, measured steps.

Rocket stalked down, snarling, "Don't take our hope away! Just don't! It's all we've got!"

He walked towards the couch where Groot had gone to sit. He climbed into his lap, embraced him and kissed him between the eyes.

"We'll prove ‘em wrong," he whispered.

"I am Groot," murmured Groot. He smiled with sadness knitting his brow.

"See you soon, you d'ast idiot."

Rocket didn't look back when the Nova Corps transport vessel married itself to the Milano. Because if he did, he wouldn't be able to leave. And if he didn't leave, he was giving up. He couldn't give up.

.

"Don't bullshit me, Doctor Ensil. How's Groot doing?"

The chubby Krylorian man peered across his desk. His red face held a terrifying grimness. Rocket was so used to Groot's mostly nonverbal means of communication that he knew the answer before the man spoke.

"The stem cells and UV lights aren't working anymore. The cellular apoptosis is accelerating."

Coldness filled Rocket's stomach. He swallowed thickly. "No."

"I'm sorry."

"There's gotta be something else you can do for him! You can't give up! Do more research!"

"All the research in the galaxy isn't going to rescue him."

Rocket's fur bristled, "So you expect me to sit there on my ass and watch him die?!"

Ensil steepled his fingers calmly. "His condition has been terminal for the past year. The treatments delayed the inevitable. They weren't a cure."

"No. C'mon, doc! I've got money. I'll pay anything! Anything, dammit! I - "

Ensil reached across the desk and placed his large hand over Rocket's clenched forepaws. "Go to him, Rocket. His deterioration is going to be very rapid from this point on."

Rocket yanked his hands free and jabbed a finger accusingly at the doctor's face, "You don't know Groot! He's had setbacks before! He'll pull outta this too! You can quit on him, but don't fucking tell me to quit!"

He stormed from the office, kicking aside the metal trashcan by the door. He stopped in a bar for a few drinks before boarding the transport to find a message from Peter.

"Rocket, you better hurry back. Groot's not doing so well. He misses you."

Rocket growled and sent a response. "Tell Groot I'm on my way."

.

Three days into the journey back, Rocket's console beeped. He lit up when Groot's face appeared onscreen.

"I am Groot," he sounded so tired, as if he hadn't slept.

"Three more days, Groot," said Rocket, "Keep hanging in there."

Groot's eyes blinked slowly. "I am Groot?"

"Tch, the doctor's full of shit. He doesn't know you like I do. You still sitting under the UV lamp every day?"

Groot nodded and mentioned sitting in water, too, because he had trouble swallowing. He also mentioned pain. He never complained about pain.

"It's gonna be okay. We'll find another doctor."

"I am Groot."

The smile Groot flashed didn't reach his eyes at all. He nodded his head.

Rocket saw the truth and shut it behind his own returned smile. "Love you, you big idiot."

Groot rumbled something resembling "we are Groot" and cut the line.

.

The airlock hissed as Rocket released the clamps marrying the transport vessel to the Milano. He looked around with a smile full of hope and didn't see Groot in the recreation section at all. Drax sat alone at the table, shining one of his knives.

"Where's Groot?"

Drax gestured to the air mattress between an external porthole and the bathroom area. "There."

Rocket checked the time. Two in the ‘morning.' Oh, right, most people were sleeping right now. He dumped his luggage next to the air mattress he saw on the floor. Groot was laying on his left side on it - he hardly laid down ever - and a white sheet covered him up to his neck.

Groot shifted in his sleep. Rocket sneered at the sheets covering him and flung them off, revealing a horrific sight. Those thick, sinewy vines that gave Groot's body a musclebound appearance were shriveled to mere stems. He had shed all of his green moss. There were no extraneous twigs sticking up off him. If not for his face, Rocket never would've recognized this wasted away creature as Groot.

Rocket rushed into the bathroom, turned the water on in the sink and sobbed. This was just a setback. A setback! He smoothed his composure and washed his face. Drax wasn't at the table anymore when Rocket reappeared.

Now the only sounds were faint engine hums. Rocket plopped down heavily enough to shake the entire air mattress. Groot made grumbling noises and opened his eyes. His face immediately lit up with a smile like fireworks. He pulled Rocket close to nuzzle his cheek in his fur.

"I am Groot," he croaked. His voice sounded breathy, like speech took effort.

"Missed you, too," said Rocket. He tried not to see the pain in his lover's eyes. "Go back to sleep," he continued as he settled in the crook of Groot's arm.

Groot's other hand cupped his back. His bark felt so dry and hard. His scent was different too, like a wood that hadn't seen water in years.

.

"Just hang back, Rocket. We've got this routine down pat," said Peter.

Rocket moved away to let Groot sit up. Peter and Gamora slipped his gaunt arms around their shoulders and stood, helping him stand too. Groot could not support his own weight at all. His teeth gnashed with agony. His torso looked like it only retained its shape because of whatever internal organs he had.

Rocket looked on, feeling helpless.

Groot suffered through every step to the bathroom. Gamora and Peter gently lifted his legs for him one at a time. They set him down in the half full tub of water. Groot cried out from the pain. He grabbed his stomach area, whimpering.  _Whimpering_. Peter poured water on his back and Gamora rubbed his arm until he relaxed enough to let them splash his chest. They wiped his face with a wet washcloth.

Rocket couldn’t watch them help him back to bed. He saw the UV lamp in the corner. It was broken, but he didn't let it break his hope.

"Betcha soaking up some water did you a lotta good," he told Groot after Peter and Gamora tip-toed away.

Groot reached for his hand. Rocket grasped his index finger and kissed it.

"You're doing great, Groot. You're still fighting."

He talked about the future again. Groot smiled sadly, reached up and pushed his snout shut.

"I am Groot."

He didn't want the future. He wanted right now.

.

Three days after that moment, Rocket noticed Groot wasn't holding his head up anymore. He let it sag forward or flop backwards without trying to right it. He acted confused about where he was going. One might swear he never saw water before with how he acted frightened by it.

"He should have died days ago," said Drax solemnly.

"Shut up!" Rocket snarled.

"No. You be silent. This is selfishness!"

Rocket glared. Drax responded in kind.

"Groot is waiting for your permission to die. He will suffer until you give it. His body will give out and he will suffer."

"But he'll be alive. If he's alive he can get better," Rocket set his jaw adamantly.

Drax's eyes pinned him in place. "Every time he looks at you, Rocket, he is pleading with you to let him go. If you love him as deeply as he loves you, you will grant him that permission." He got up after that and ascended the stairs to the flight deck.

Rocket bruised his foot kicking the chair Drax vacated. He grumbled and grabbed a fruit cup from the refrigerator drawer and dug for a spoon to eat its contents.

Peter said, "Careful, Gamora, he's out of it again."

"I am Groot!" Groot said something about birds everywhere.

Peter and Gamora helped Groot settle on the air mattress. He kept picking at the sheets. They spoke softly to him until he curled up in restless slumber. Rocket didn't like Groot sleeping so much. As soon as they walked away, he meandered over and plopped down hard enough to make Groot open his eyes.

"Haven't seen you eat since I got back. Here." Rocket spooned a piece of green fruit into Groot's partly open mouth.

And it just sat there, unacknowledged.

"Groot? C'mon, eat."

Groot spent twenty torturous minutes moving the fruit around in his mouth and ten more trying to swallow it. He pushed the spoon away the second time Rocket offered.

"You can't not eat, Groot."

"I am Groot."

"Whaddya mean you're not hungry?"

"I AM GROOT!" Groot jolted up onto his elbows, his normally soft eyes hard. The anger, pain and sadness in his stare pieced Rocket's heart.

"G-Groot...you've got to keep your strength up. C'mon, where's your brain?"

Groot took the fruit cup from Rocket's hands and threw it halfway across the room where its contents splattered on the floor. He resettled with his back to Rocket. The main bole his body built itself upon stood out in sharp relief like a brown spinal column.

Shocked, Rocket touched what was once a broad, powerful back. "Fine, don't eat the fuckin' fruit cup! Tell me when you get hungry and I'll get you whatever you want."

"I am Groot," said Groot sullenly. He breathed heavily, his voice croaking through pain. "I am Groot."

Rocket rubbed his back until his breathing evened out. He stepped away to clean up the spilled fruit cup. There was still fruit in the container. He ate it.

.

Groot didn't rouse for his morning bath, and after it Peter reported the water level in the tub didn't go down at all while Groot was in it.

Rocket waited patiently for them to dry him off. Groot still didn't wake. When he finally did around dinnertime, Rocket capitalized.

"Stay awake, Groot! C'mon! You can't give up!" he snapped.

"I am Groot...?"

"There ain't any birds sitting on me. You're hallucinating because you won't eat."

"I am...Groot." Groot raised a hand as if stroking something invisible. His arm looked so thin and fragile, his fingers mere sticks. He laid that hand on his chest. His eyes fluttered shut.

He woke again later in the night. Same thing. He mumbled about sunshine and forests before falling back to sleep. His breathing sounded labored, irregular.

Groot slept through the entire next day, and the day after that. Peter and Gamora didn't take him into the bathroom anymore. They wiped him down with damp towels instead. Groot's face twisted in pain any time someone moved his joints. His very existence was sheer agony.

Rocket looked away. He still believed Groot could fight this.

.

Taps on the tail awoke Rocket at four in the morning. Groot was  _sitting up_  unaided, his gaunt form eerie in the low lights. He asked for a fruit cup and ate the whole thing. He asked for water and drank the entire glassful. Rocket's hope soared.

This time it was Groot who talked animatedly about the future. About living in a forest of golden sunlight and never ending rivers. He talked about how great he was going to feel.

Rocket saw the pure joy in Groot's soulful brown eyes.

"Can't wait to see it," he said.

Groot's face fell. "I am Groot."

"Why not?"

"I am Groot."

He just looked at Rocket.

And Rocket understood. He swallowed his tears, his chest tight with pain. He kissed Groot's face and neck. He pulled him close. They made slow, passionate love beneath the sheets for the first time in a long while.

Rocket held his breath when he watched Groot shudder and throw his head back in the throes of a pheromones induced orgasm. How he still had the strength to experience one was boggling. Rocket memorized his blissful expression.

Then Groot opened his eyes and stroked the side of Rocket's face.

"I am Groot?"

Rocket's heart missed a beat. This was the first time Groot ever point blank asked this. Stinging tears flooded his eyes. He broke down. Painfully.

Groot, who never asked anything of Rocket before, wanted permission to die. He said he wasn't afraid because he knew where he was going. There wouldn't be any more pain or sickness. He would be able to run, bloom, splash around in rivers like a giant idiot and enjoy the sunshine.

Through his tears, Rocket heard himself ask, "Is that what you want, Groot?"

"I am Groot," Groot nodded.

Rocket's lips quivered. He looked into Groot's eyes. Those damn beautiful eyes so full of love. Drax was right. They were pleading.

"I - don't want you to, Groot!" he sobbed like a fool and couldn't stop, "But if it's easier for you, if it stops the pain...go." He drew closer to him, to that frail, heaving chest, "I’m sorry that put you through this. I'm sorry that I'm such a selfish prick...I'm sorry, Groot."

"Shhh," Groot used a sound he learned from Peter.

Rocket cried helplessly into his neck. Groot stroked him between the ears. Into his ear, he rumbled, "We are Groot."

"I love you, too," Rocket said.

Groot kissed him deeply. A kiss that said goodbye.

They went to sleep wrapped in each other's embrace.

.

A horrific noise woke Rocket from deep slumber. Did the damn toilet back up into the tub again? The rhythmic gurgling sounded like it. He checked. Not the toilet.

It was Groot. He was still lying on his back, eyes partly open and face slack. His lower jaw hung open and his exhales sounded like a person drowning in his own secretions. He breathed rapidly, almost not finishing an exhale before pulling another inhale.

Rocket woke the others. Peter took one look at Groot and said, "Oh yeah, he's going today."

He'd seen a death like this before.

"Well don't stand there like jackasses! We need to help him cough it up!"

"It's not bothering him, Rocket." Peter said. "Hey, Groot...guess you're packing up to go." He knelt at the head of the mattress to touch Groot's shoulder and the rest of his words were inaudible.

Drax stared a hole in Rocket's head. Rocket looked up. He nodded. Drax's expression softened marginally. He joined Peter at Groot's side. Gamora followed. They rubbed Groot's hands, touched his shoulders and rolled him onto his side, which temporarily quieted the wet rattling.

Towards the afternoon, Groot's breaths were almost intolerably loud again. He twitched a lot and frowned equally often.

Peter knelt by Rocket, who hadn't left Groot's side since he woke the others.

"My mom used to say dying is like being in labor. It's work. Womens' bodies just...I dunno...have to shift things around before it can let the baby out. I guess the soul has to do the same thing."

"But is he in pain right now?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. Something I know for sure is hearing stays till the end. He can hear us. Can't tell you how much or how clear. Probably enough to recognize our voices at the very least."

His rambling got on Rocket's nerves. "Well if he could talk right now, he'd say ‘Star-Dork, shut up.'"

A sad smile crossed Peter's face.

“Here, I found them." Gamora handed Peter two pink swabs. She cast Groot a sad look and walked away, her face solemn.

Peter showed Rocket how to swab Groot's mouth out so it wouldn't get uncomfortably dry. But Groot's mouth was naturally dry unless he just drank something. Still, doing something comforting eased his feeling of helplessness.

Rocket whispered in Groot's ear. "Look for a bright light, you d'ast idiot. People always see bright lights when they're about to croak. Your forest's in the light."

He kissed him between the eyes and lovingly ran the swab along the circle of his open mouth.

Groot gave no response. He looked like a gape mouthed fool, and Rocket loved him more for it.

By dinnertime there were pauses between the gurgling exhales and gasped inhales. Rocket ate a steak while watching Groot's shoulder rise and fall.

Everyone gathered around the air mattress after dinner. They turned Groot over onto his left side to prevent him from feeling the soreness of lying in one position too long. Groot's breathing picked up speed again. He was aware of his surroundings on some minimal level.

Everyone stayed with Groot late into the evening. They talked, laughed and shared stories. Groot's exhales grew rougher. He seemed agitated, and communicated it through breathing.

"He is waiting for privacy, so we should grant it," Gamora spoke to the group as a whole. She bent and stroked the back of Groot's neck. "May you find your peace." Then she kissed his cheek and quietly departed for her bunk.

Drax gave Groot's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Rest easy, my friend." And he followed Gamora.

"See you around, Groot. Thanks for everything." Peter patted the same shoulder Drax squeezed. "Gonna miss you, man." He choked up and turned away, hesitated and finally padded towards the bunks across the ship.

Rocket dimmed the overhead lights. In the time it took him to do that, Groot breathed significantly quieter. Gamora was right.

"It's just us now. You and me."

Rocket rubbed Groot's hands. He kissed them. Every single fingertip and knuckle.

Towards midnight, Groot stopped gurgling entirely. The silence woke Rocket from sleep. He saw Groot's jaw flapping open and shut like he was eating air to breathe it. These tiny movements twitched his back as well as his chest. It looked mechanical. His eyes were fully open now, staring into nothing.

Rocket sat up and bent over him. Within his sadness he found a hope so painfully profound that he started to smile above the lump in his throat.

"You're there, aren't you? So what're you waiting for?"

A shiver ran through Groot's entire body. He seemed to stretch and curl up again.

Rocket kissed his upper lip, "It's okay to go, Groot." He caressed the side of his face. "It's okay to go."

Groot exhaled with a faint gurgle. His tongue fell behind his bottom teeth. He shuddered. His mouth twitched shut and immediately fell half open. The remnants of life in his eyes faded like a candle under glass.

Time ticked by in stillness.

Rocket leaned over when he didn't see any movement. He felt no air on his whiskers. Groot had stopped breathing.

Instead of unbearable pain, Rocket felt peace for him. All that pain, all that suffering, and it was over. And Groot chose him to witness this most intimate transition.

Rocket closed Groot's eyes and mouth for him. His mouth stayed shut, his eyes wouldn't. Stubborn, even in death.

He chuckled as tears prickled on his lower eyelids. Groot looked so stupid with his eyes half open. But Groot always looked kind of stupid, that was his charm.

Rocket sniffed. "Bye, you d'ast idiot. Love you."

He hugged Groot's face to his chest as he stared out the porthole at the stars. The universe wasn't the same anymore, and he was the only person in it who knew why.

.

Groot's body froze in position immediately after he died. His remains looked strangely like a nest atop the white sheets of the air mattress. Rocket was glad he closed his mouth when he did.

He remembered Groot letting the Collector pay him to own his body after death, but had a sneaking suspicion Groot had no intention of actually following through. This ploy proved itself true when Peter uncovered a piece of paper he'd scribbled on.

Groot wanted an open cremation. He wanted Rocket to light him.

They did it on Morag. They carried Groot's body together and laid him in the dirt where his ashes would scatter. Rocket didn't use a match. No, he wanted to send Groot out in style. He kissed Groot's forehead, lit the fireworks he placed on his body and watched them go off in showers of sparks. The colorful embers ignited Groot's chest. His dried out husk went up in flames.

He kept Rocket warm one last time.

"Hey, Star-Dork, where's your marshmallows?"

"My what? Now? You seriously want to roast marshmallows over Groot's dead body?"

"Yeah! He would've thought it was hilarious."

Groot knew what he was doing when he planned this. Instead of sadness and tears, Rocket spent that night laughing and telling campfire stories. Later, when the fire's final ember faded, he scooped some of the ashes into a bullet casing and wore it on a chain around his neck.

.

Fifteen years went by, and a new war came to Xandar. The Kree empire wanted once more to claim the Infinity Stone. Only this time, the main warship dwarfed the Dark Aster like a toothpick.

Peter, Drax and Gamora were among the flight crew. Peter, being the fucking twat that he was, had the Infinity Stone. Even if the Kree tore the planet apart, they'd never find it unless they got Peter too.

Rocket stayed on the planet this time, protecting a children's hospital from a legion of ground drones. So far he managed to snipe the lead drones, which made the group self destruct.

Then actual living Kree started arriving. They slaughtered civilians left and right without remorse. Rocket stayed focused on the kids. It's what Groot would've done.

"Get in the medicine safe!" he told them, "Now! Help the ones who can't walk! Go!"

He checked out the third story window. The Kree warrior below took aim. He was going to shoot the generator powering the hospital and bring the whole thing down.

Rocket knew he was dead if he stood up. But it was him or the fifty kids in this branch of the hospital.

"Hey, fuck-face!" He jumped upright and aimed.

The Kree shot him. Pain ripped through his chest. His world went red and he tasted blood. It took eight seconds to lose consciousness without a heartbeat, but he still had seven left. He leaned forward, squeezing the trigger of his own gun. He saw the Kree's head explode as he fell forward out the window. A three-story fall into brightness.

.

He landed on all fours on the mossy soil and shot forward in a four-legged run. Golden sunbeams shone between the forest leaves. Two rivers sparkled on either side of him. A delighted chattering noise rang in his throat. Words used to come from there. When did words exist in that space?

_"He's in V-fib! Clear!"_

_"Oh, shit, that's Rocket! Rocket? Rocket! You saved those kids, Rocket. You hear me? You saved ‘em..."_

And Rocket let it all go. Peter's voice became echoes and was gone. So were his implants. So was all the wisdom he attained as a test subject. He existed on pure instinct and emotion now.

A shape in the distance knelt down and spread its arms. He raced towards it at full speed. The only emotion he knew was love. Love only for this gentle-eyed being whose name he couldn't conceive of anymore, yet trusted completely. He clambered onto its shoulder because knew he belonged there.

He kissed it on the cheek. A kiss that said hello.

As the forest being walked with him into the bright sunlight, it whispered a soft familiarity in his ear, " _We_  are Groot."


End file.
